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249 points randycupertino | 1 comments | | HN request time: 0s | source
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stego-tech ◴[] No.45949690[source]
I feel kinda bad for the writer, because it's a good question: no, curing patients is not a good business model, just like public transit is not a good business model.

What a lot of folks neglect are N+1-order effects, because those are harder to quantify and fail to reach the predetermined decision some executive or board or shareholder has already made. Is curing patients a bad business model? Sure, for the biotech company it is, but those cured patients are far more likely to go on living longer, healthier lives, and in turn contribute additional value to society - which will impact others in ways that may also create additional value. That doesn't even get into the jobs and value created through the R&D process, testing, manufacturing, logistics of delivery, ongoing monitoring, etc. As long as the value created is more than the cost of the treatment, then it's a net-gain for the economy even if it's a net loss for that singular business.

If all you're judging is the first-order impacts on a single business, you're missing the forest for the trees.

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tptacek ◴[] No.45950199[source]
Saying that curing diseases is a bad business model is like saying discovering the world's largest gold mine would be a bad business because you'd eventually run out of gold. The underlying argument doesn't make sense.
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1. energy123 ◴[] No.45950297[source]
The argument only makes sense under certain assumptions: you can't protect the IP from being copied (leading to competition and eroding economic rents), or the government will place a price ceiling (price controls).

Otherwise, the demand will be highly inelastic, so you cannot really invent a better business model. The pricing power you would wield as the monopoly provider of life & death would be tremendous.

It would be fruitful to put the example in the article under closer scrutiny.